Louis E. Fenech Insinuates Militancy in Sikh Martyrdom Tradition
Charnjit Singh Bal
NOTE: Text from Louis Fenech’s published thesis MARTYRDOM in the SIKH TRADITION, Playing the Game of Love, and excepts and quotes from sources are reproduced verbatim. My own comments and arguments are in italicized fonts.
Dr. Louis E. Fenech, an academic at the University of Northern Iowa, is another addition to the Sikh Studies cadre at the Western Universities. This cadre, that includes Harjot Oberoi, Pashaura Singh, Doris Jakobsh, Gurinder Singh Mann, et al, got their doctorates in subjects pertaining to Sikhism and subscribes to the school of thought mentored by the (ex?) ordained Christian Reverend and overseas Missionary, William Hewat McLeod. Their Sikh Studies published and/or unpublished dissertations on Sikh Scriptures, Religiosity, History, Culture, Social Customs and Traditions have vexed the sensitivities of the Sikh intelligentsia. The fact that he belongs to this fraternity is evident from excerpts from his own book,
This book represents a revised version of my dissertation, ‘Playing the “Game of Love”: The Sikh Tradition of Martyrdom’, submitted for the Ph. D. degree to the Centre for South Asian Studies at the University of Toronto in 1995. It was here as an undergraduate in the early 1980s that I cultivated my interest in the Punjab and the Sikh people. I was ironically attracted to Sikh tradition in 1984 not because of the events in the Punjab in this time (of which I knew very little), but as a result of sitting in on what would be the last class that the great Indologist; A. L. Basham, ever taught. The next year, Professor W. H. McLeod, a student of Basham in the early 1960s, was appointed as a visiting Commonwealth Scholar to the University of Toronto, a fact that allowed me to further enrich my fascination for the Sikh Tradition.
The most rewarding experience has been having Hew McLeod as my supervisor and mentor. Martyrdom in the Sikh Tradition’, [hereafter Martyrdom], p xiii-xiv
It is a travesty of higher Sikh Studies scholarship that A. L. Basham, Hewat McLeod’s Sikh Studies Ph. D. degree supervisor at ‘School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London’, knew nothing about Punjabi or Gurmukhi, the language of Sikh scripture, that is unquestionably essential for a proficient scholar, especially a supervisor of a doctorate Sikh studies students. This academic anomaly is evident from his student, William Hewat McLeod’s comment about him.
“Professor Basham) knew nothing about the Punjabi language, and he made only three very minor changes to the thesis. One of which was his insistence that I should use plural form ‘appendices’ instead of earlier practice of writing ‘appendexis’. Once a month I was required to appear before him and report progress and difficulties. I would outline the difficulties and at each of them he would nod his head wisely and make some such comment as, ‘yes that is a problem’ or ‘that is a difficulty we all have’. After the interview was over I would ask myself, ‘what have I gained from it,’ and answer would be that I had derived nothing. Professor Basham was, however, an experienced supervisor and even if I received no direct guidance concerning my thesis topic, I did, at least, get the understanding noises, which at that time, I needed.” Discovering the Sikhs, Autobiography of a Historian, p. 39
INSINUATION
In the vast majority of contemporary Sikh history books, the importance of martyrdom is underscored as two events which are held to have fundamentally changed the nature of community, were believed to be martyrdoms. According to this version of history, the martyrdom of Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru, led to the militarization of the community in 1606, while the martyrdom of his grand son, the ninth Sikh master, Guru Tegh Bahadur, in 1675 was the event which precipitated the creation of the Khalsa, the elite, militant order formed in 1699 by the tenth and last Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708). Martyrdom, p. 2
Evidently, Dr. Fenech fails to differentiate between militancy and courage and intrepidity, that the Sikh Gurus endeavoured to infuse in the Sikhs and non-Sikhs all along. At the advent of Nanak Dev, Sikhism’s founding Guru, the Indian populace was suffering under Muslim invaders’ political tyranny and religious coercion for centuries. Also, the predominantly Hindu society suffered socio-religious segregation, deprivation and exploitation at the hands of supremacist Brahmins, the dogmatic Hindu clerics.
Altruistic, Guru Nanak courageously embarked on a mission to propagate his universal message of religious freedom, cultural harmony, political Justice and social equality and liberality, the noble ideals that constitute the core doctrines of Sikhism.
“So utterly were the Hindus degraded that they were the prey to self-abasement and servility, had lost self-respect and faith in their gods, and most of them being deprived by caste rules of right to bear arms they had all but lost that natural manliness which alone could promise a better future.” Duncun Greenlees,The Gospel of GURU GRUNTH SAHIB, p. xix
“Out of this wretched, misery-trampled, hag-ridden peasantry the Guru had to build a nation of self-respecting men, devoted to God and their leader, filled with sense of equality and brotherhood for all, ready to die, nay eager to die, as martyrs for their faith when opportunity allowed, and yet prepared to fight tyrant with his own weapons in defence of the weak and to protect the righteous.”’ Ibid, pp. xxiii-xxiv
“Other reformers, other prophets and saints, strove elsewhere, each in his own way as taught by his Master, but in Punjab Guru Nanak through ten lives he devoted to his labours built a nation, brave and proud and strong, and taught men and women how to love God as a friend, as a most beloved Intimate, upright and self-respecting instead of prostrate on the ground. That was the spirit he infused into the Sikhs, and it transformed the whole picture of society in the North of India.” Ibid, p. xxv
MISINTERPRETATION
Dhadi performances generate a zeal which is breathtaking. Their inspirational concerts are almost always punctuated by numerous, intermittent shouts of popular Sikh jaikara or battle-cry Sat Sri Akal (True is the Timeless {One}) from the gathered crowd. Ibid, p.35
The Dhadis or balladeers, while singing the ballads of Sikh martyrs occasionally evoke the two-part liturgical chant, ‘Bolē So Nihal’, ‘Sat Sri Akal’, from an enthusiastic assembly. The evocative part ‘Bolē So Nihal’, literally means, ‘whosoever chants, (‘Sat Sri Akal’) will be rapturous’, and the responsive part ‘Sat Sri Akal’ means ‘Immortal [God] truly exists’. It is an expression of solidarity, appreciation, and congregational consent, etc. It is, also, chanted at conclusion of supplication. When recited or written by-itself the Second part ‘Sat Sri Akal’ signifies greetings or salutation.
SINGH SABHA DENOUNCED AS MANUPOLATIVE, DOMINEERING
One could assume that the term ‘zinda shahid’ was perhaps formulated by the Singh Sabha in order to emphasize the new understanding of the shahid. After all, men initially labelled zinda shahid, such as Takhat Singh and kharak Singh (1868-1963), all followed a Singh Sabha agenda, in which the martyr played an eminent part. Ibid, p. 15
In the task of understanding how the Singh Sabha fulfilled that agenda and came to dominate the Sikh imagination, we must keep in mind what, on the surface, is a rather obvious point: that the Singh Sabha communicated its vision through language. Although much has been written on the Singh Sabha project to date, the specific language employed by its members, their rhetorical approaches in particular, has not yet secured the attention it deserves. Ibid, p. 15
The adoption of an analysis of the Singh Sabha’s rhetoric and thus the techniques the group adopted to persuade the audience seems to imply that members of this Sabha were using rhetoric in a calculated manner, cognizant of their choice of language and free to manipulate words as they chose. Ibid, p. 19
The martyrs in popular Sikh martyrologies as well as the Akalis of this century, however, had the option to have all punishment cease by choosing either to abjure (renounce) their faith or not to engage in the struggle to free the Gurwaras. This is a choice, I must add, of which all the spectators would have been aware. It was this sustained spectacle(ostentation) of the heroic acts of these contemporary Sikh martyrs, I believe, that assured the hegemony(domination) of the Singh Sabha interpretation of Sikh tradition. Ibid, 25
It was the Singh Sabha which exploited the inherent element of identity in martyrdom in the attempt to subjugate the popular devotion to martyrdom to theirpopular interest. The blood of martyr provided the Tat Khalsa with the almost limitless potential to recast Sikhism into a form congenial (suited) to their interpretation of the tradition and to ensure that this interpretation would become standard.Ibid, p. 52
Before progressing, we should be well aware of the fierce fidelity that all literature aligned with the Singh Sabha interpretation exhibits concerning Sikh martyrs and the tradition of martyrdom in Sikhism. ----- This is a tradition which commands the militant allegiance of today’s Sikhs, a violation of which will cause the most vehement opposition. Due to the Tat Khalsa’saggressive campaign, the pre-Singh Sabha connection between Khalsa Sikhs and the ability to become a martyr was much more strongly expressed and emphasized. Despite the fact that there are believed to have been Sikh martyrs prior to the inauguration of the Khalsa in 1699, the martyr tradition became intimately connected with this militant order. Ibid, p. 53
Let us now turn to the game as devised by the Tat Khalsa and played out by the Akalis and SGPC. The attempt to define and control sacred space that initiated the Gurdwara movement began long before the British conquest of the Punjab. The simple fact that Guru Amar Das had constructed Baoli Sahib in Goindwal and that Guru Ram Das chose to have Harimandir built demonstrated a need for a space set aside for congregational Sikh worship. Ibid, p. 233
The author’s conjecture that the Gurus built ‘Baoli Sahib’, a deep Well and Harimandir, Sikhism’s primal Temple to ‘set aside space for exclusive Sikh worship’ exhibits his ignorance of Sikhism’s salient concept of all-inclusiveness. The Temple, built with four portals symbolically welcomes all castes and creeds from four directions.
His choice of epitaphs and invectives in the above passages reveal his cynical, sceptical view of Singh Sabha, a view typical of W. H. McLeod’s school of thought and its affiliates. In all their published or unpublished Sikh-Study dissertations, the Singh Sabha, the sole Sikh reformist movement, is invariably the butt of denunciation. Furthering his School’s askance view Dr. Fenech implicitly equates Sikh reformist movement, Singh Sabha to the Muslim Jihadits and Christian crusaders’ cadres.
“It was in 1872 (CE) that the Sikh revival may have said to-have begin. The spread of English education and knowledge of Western ideas of scholarship and democracy led the Sikhs to start many small divans, where they could meet together for discussion as Sikhs; they came to realize that Sikhism would perish altogether if it were allowed to merge into the Hinduism all around it, and though they could not yet form one authoritative body which would govern all affairs of the community, they did start in Amritsar in this year the Singh Sabhāwhich proved the source of many things.” Duncun Greenlees, ‘The Gospel of GURU GRANTH SAHIB’,p. cxxxix
INNUENDO: JATS INHERENTLY VIOLENT
Amritsar and Tarn Taran were thriving towns filled with many Sikhs of all castes. The villages surrounding these towns were populated by the large numbers of Sikhs, particularly Jat Sikhs, who pursued agricultural occupations. These were a people who often resorted to violence to settle disputes over honour and land, a natural tendency, so the text states, considering the fact that the Punjab was gateway through which all would be ‘conquerors’ of India had to pass. Ibid, p. 80
Jahangir’s motive behind the execution however, is still a matter of controversy amongst scholars. Was the emperor concerned at the growing Jat constituency of the Sikh Panth, the Jat zāt (sub caste), a group which was known for its predilection towards violence in the early seventeenth century? Ibid, p. 119
There is no unbiased, authenticated historical account, nor does Dr. Fenech substantiate his assertions that the Jats are inherently militant and constituted majority in early Sikhism. The fact that the original ‘Panj Piärē’, ‘five cherished Sikhs’, Dya Ram Khatri of Lahore, Punjab, Dharm Das Jat of Delhi, Mohkam Chand washer-man of Dwarka, Gujrat, Himat Singh cook of Jagannath, Orissa, and Sahib Chand barber of Bidder, Maharashtra, belonged to India’s various geographical regions, castes and sub castes, negates Dr. Fenech’s assertions.
“Only Sikhs have ever run into battle screaming “PREM KI JIT” (Love Be Thy Victory)! Before materialism and baboon bosses succeed in conquering Sikhi and the planet, and destroying good simply for their own ego-gratification, why not fight?” Kamalla Rose Kaur, Abstracts of Sikhism Oct- Dec. 2006
CYNICISM
While compiling the Adi Granth in the late sixteen and early seventeenth centuries Guru Arjan recognized the popularity of the var (ballad) among the rural population of the Punjab and himself selected the heroic dhunis (tunes) of these ballads at the beginning of the vars in different rag sections of the Adi Granth. This process of appropriation, we are told, was in order to attract this rural audience, particularly the Jat caste, to the Sikh faith. ----- A statement of this nature certainly adds weight to the vigorously contested theory that the martial traditions of the Jats had a fundamental influence on the early formation of the Sikh tradition. Ibid, pp. 116-7
Guru Arjan or any other Sikh Guru had no intent or disingenuous design to recruit or proselytize to fill the ranks of Sikhism. Authored by revered Sikh Gurus and eminent Hindu and Muslim saints, Sikhism’s scriptural anthology imparts a universal message to all mankind, ‘to be virtuous human beings, earn an honest livelihood and share with the needy and cultivate true piety; and relinquish, cardinal vices, carnal lust, anger, greed, materialism and ego.
The real Ascetic is, who comprehends path of true piety and with Guru’s grace cultivates rapport (harmonious relationship) with the God. Qäsi (Muslim cleric) is, who abstains from corruption and with spiritual guide’s grace refrains from materialism. Brahman is, who worships the One (absolute) God and thus redeems himself; and, by example, facilitates redemption of his descendents. GGS, 4, 5, 7, p.662
“There is something strangely modern about these (Sikh) scriptures and this puzzled me. Perhaps this sense of unity is the source of power I find in these volumes. They speak to the people of any religion or of none. They speak for the human heart and the searching mind.” Pearl S. Buck
“Yet, this planet desperately needs Sikhi. This planet needs Sikhs to do what Sikhs do best - for the glory of universalism and the love of human potential, more than for the Glory of Sikhi.” Kamalla Rose Kaur, Abstracts of Sikhism Oct- Dec. 2006
MYTHS AND ORAL TRADITONS CREDITED
Although the texts draw on a considerable amount of material in their construction of the standard Tegh Bahadur narrative, the pattern in which an emphasis is placed on the ideological relationship between the first Guru and the ninth may be traced to the account one finds in the Bachitar Natak, probably the first source in which mention is made of the ninth Guru’s sacrifice.
Yet to understand the relationship between the first and the ninth Guru within this passage, it must be placed within the context of the entire Bachitar Nātak, a text which attempts to understand the legacy inherited by Guru Gobind Singh and his position within it. As the next canto (section) implies, after the death of the ninth Guru, the light of Nanak is passed on to the tenth Guru. It begins by stating that it was in his previous life that Guru Gobind Singh was appointed by Akal Purakh to continue spreading that righteousness which Guru Nanak brought into the world, and for which his father had died. Ibid, pp. 85-6
To further instil in Sikhs a strong desire to defend righteousness, the tenth Guru composed a series of hymns and epics which were to be brought together in the early eighteenth century as the Dasam Granth, or the Book of the Tenth King, by his boyhood companion, Mani Singh. Tradition states Guru Gobind Singh discovered that from reading the [Adi] Granth the Sikhs became feeble hearted. Therefore [he said], I myself will prepare such a Granth that the Sikhs from reading it will learn the art of ruling, the use of weapons and other skills, so that they will become fit for warfare. Ibid, p.90